Ozyhar Tomasz, Barnabei Laura, Myrick Dorkina
University of Turin, Department of Law, Turin, Italy.
J Law Biosci. 2022 Feb 26;9(1):lsac004. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsac004. eCollection 2022 Jan-Jun.
The unprecedented coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a solemn reminder of the need to accelerate pharmaceutical innovation. The desire for fast access to vaccines triggered discussion of unrestricted access to research findings with the hope of facilitating the drug discovery process to combat COVID-19. Increasingly, abolition of the patent system is being discussed in connection with the fight against the pandemic. This may accelerate discovery of and increase access to medicines. However, society's desire for immediate disclosure of research findings conflicts with the inventor's legitimate interest to protect his or her invention as well as the need to recover investments made to develop the drug. The call for immediate disclosure of research results contradicts the interest of the inventor, whose primary goal is to secure his intellectual property rights, usually by applying for patent protection. In Europe, where patent law is based on the principle of absolute novelty, disclosure of the results reduces novelty and prevents subsequent patenting. Consequently, patenting remains the top priority for pharmaceutical companies in Europe, while disclosure of the results is secondary. The following article looks critically at the idea of using the grace period in European patent law to reconcile the conflicting interests of society and inventors in times of pandemic. In this paper, we investigate whether the implementation of a grace period in European patent law like that known in the USA, Japan, or Korea benefits the disclosure of results and increases the flow of information, ultimately leading to the promotion of innovation and rapid drug discovery. This article questions whether the use of a grace period provides a sufficient incentive to the inventor for rapid disclosure.
2019年新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情前所未有的大流行严肃地提醒人们有必要加速药物创新。人们渴望快速获得疫苗，这引发了关于不受限制获取研究成果的讨论，希望以此推动抗击COVID-19的药物研发进程。在抗击疫情的背景下，越来越多地有人讨论废除专利制度。这可能会加速药物的发现并增加药物的可及性。然而，社会对立即公开研究成果的渴望与发明者保护其发明的合法权益以及收回药物研发投资的需求相冲突。要求立即公开研究结果与发明者的利益相悖，发明者的主要目标通常是通过申请专利保护来确保其知识产权。在欧洲，专利法基于绝对新颖性原则，研究结果的公开会降低新颖性并妨碍后续的专利申请。因此，在欧洲，专利申请仍是制药公司的首要任务，而公开研究结果则是次要的。以下文章批判性地审视了利用欧洲专利法中的宽限期来协调疫情期间社会与发明者冲突利益的想法。在本文中，我们研究欧洲专利法中实施类似美国、日本或韩国那样的宽限期是否有利于研究结果的公开并增加信息流通，最终促进创新和快速的药物发现。本文质疑宽限期的使用是否能为发明者迅速公开研究成果提供足够的激励。
